The World Heritage Convention listed extensions of the Shibing County’s Karst landforms to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites on June 23 in Qatar.

The South China Karst landform extension was nominated in 2012. The newly added landforms are extensions of a prior project where four areas have been included. The Karst landfrom in Shibing County, Guizhou province has been listed as the third site of natural heritage. This was after two other sites in the province, Libo and Chishui, were already listed in 2007 and 2010, respectively. 

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The latest nomination for the inclusion of Shibing’s karst extension was the second batch from the South China Karst World Natural Heritage. Other areas in the Karst including Huangjiang, Guilin and Chongqing’s Jinfo Mountain karst were also nominated.

The Karst landform stretches 282.95 sq kilometers in the Shibing County and covers the Yuntai Mountain. The nominated area of the karst was at 102.8 sq kilometers with 180.15 sq. kilometers buffer area.

The decision to approve the nomination was made on June 23 following the ongoing meeting of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Doha, Qatar.

The addition of the South China Karst extension was deemed to make the list more complete.

Shibing’s Karst has an exceptional type of dolomite found in the world. This is not surprising as the most diverse Karst landscapes in the world are found in South China. The landform has mainly developed on carbonate rocks and its unique terrain has made it stand out.

Shibing’s Karst is described by caves, gorges, conical hills, sinking streams and enclosed depressions.

Aside from the karst landform, the famous ancient Silk Road and China’s Grand Canal were also listed on the World Heritage Sites. A total of 22 historic site applications was submitted from China.

This was the first time that Chinese authorities cooperated with foreign countries to land a spot on the World Heritage Sites List.

TagsShibing county, South China Karst, UNESCO, World Heritage Sites